Page 113 of Nest Of Lies

Zaden watches me fromthe top of the stairs, his unhappy glare seers me. I can feel him everywhere.

He stomps towards me and stops in front of me.

“You can lie to the others, but I know what this is really about. How long are you going to drag this out, Lia? What is it going to take to get you out of your head and to believe us?”

I glare up at him, incensed. How does he always get past my defenses?

He crouches and smiles grimly. “You’re being foolish. I already decided.”

With that, he stands up and walks away.

I ponder those words, but deep in my misery, it doesn’t make much difference. I don’t believe him.

I can’t.

Valen comes home drunkand reeking of whiskey. He’s covered in bruises and blood and can’t walk straight. He stumbles to the couch and drops to his knees in front of me. He stinks, but I don’t care.

“What can I do?”

I blink, staring at him. Shocked. He looks like an absolute wreck.

“What can I do to say I’m sorry? I went out and let them beat me up because I thought it might stop the pain. But nothing stops it. Come back, Lia. Please, come back.”

My heart starts to beat again, and I reach out and take hold of one of his fingers.

“I’m sorry we stole you. I’m sorry we took everything from you. You can hate us forever. Just talk to me.”

I can’t say the words, fear has a hold of me, and I’m too scared.

“Lia, Lia, please. We’re sorry, but don’t you see, we’re yours, and we’d be better than they ever could.”

Valen rolls his face over my thighs and presses against them.

I clench my fingers around his and hold him in the only way I can.

“I’ll be good, I promise. I’ll never do another bad thing for the rest of my life! Please, Lia,” his voice breaks. “I can’t fight this. I’ll always fight your enemies. Always. I can even punish myself, but I can’t fight your silence. Oh, Lia, I don’t know how. I can’t breathe without you.”

He talks to me until Zaden stomps down and drags him upstairs. My alpha returns and stares at me, his gaze cold and condemning.

“I’m not going to apologise for stealing you, Lia. Not now, not ever, so get over it.”

He waits. I have words I want to say, but by the time I get my mouth open, he’s gone, and he can’t hear my whispered plea.

“Don’t leave me alone.”

Chapter forty

Ianto

“Lia, you have totalk to us sometime,” I say evenly. The dark edges of my world are getting cracks in them. I want a smoke or a drink. All this time of being clean, and I’m having the strongest cravings of my life. I want to self-destruct. The fury throbs at the back of my mind.

I’m so close to snapping.

She sits and stares at the island in the most grief-filled silence I have ever seen.

Nothing has been able to reach her. She rose from the heat three weeks ago and just turned from that sexy, lovely omega into this, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Not much panics me. I’m calm and even, and I generally feel able to control almost everything. This situation is completely out of my element.

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